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October 27, 2007
Hello once again, everyone! This is Captain Carter coming to you live from Gardez, Afghanistan. Sitting at 7800 feet above sea level, this is my base camp. Well, not much has happened since last week. We are still grounded but are fixing to be able to go out. We have the vehicles now. We just need people to put in them. This should be fixed in the very near future. Some of the men are rotating back from leave so we are going to go pick them up and then go on our weekly missions.
This past Wednesday, we had 2 VIP visitors visit us – Bama Boys. It was our new TAG (The Adjutant General), Major General Blalock and the state Command Sergeant Major, Danny Ashley. They were over here and wanted to visit with soldiers from their state that are serving in the War on Terrorism. They visited for a little while and then had to catch a chopper to go visit more men. It was a good visit overall and a nice chance to meet our new TAG. (Our previous TAG, MG Bowen, resigned this past spring).
Last night, I was eating supper and finishing up when a guy came in and asked if I signed up for the pool tournament. I told him that I did and I forgot about it completely! This was at 1830 and the tournament started at 1700. I got there and there was still time to sign up so I did. It was single elimination, winner gets a $50 gift certificate to the PX, 2nd gets $25 and 3rd gets $10.
It became my turn to play and I beat this Air Force guy, so I advanced. Next, I played this Polish soldier, and although I was better than him, the balls did not go my way but, he scratched on the 8-ball so I advanced again. It became my turn to play again and I caught up to this Air Force guy; we were equal in skill level. But again, he scratched on the 8-ball and I advanced again. By this time, it was down to the last 4 people. I was still in and since there were 3 prizes, I figured that my odds were good to get one.
Well, I played this MPRI (contractor) guy and I was doing really well. He was too. He missed a shot on the 8-ball and I made my shot and then made the 8-ball so I won again! This means that I was in the championship game! Well, I broke and knocked the ball off the table. The other guy ran the balls except for 1. He made it and scratched so it was my turn. I sank 6 balls and I had a really easy shot to make before I made the 8-ball and I blew it! I rushed myself and missed! He then promptly made the 8-ball and won. So, out of 26 players, I finished 2nd. I’m happy and I took my little self back to my room with gift certificate in hand. I will work on spending some of it tonight. Don’t know what I will buy yet but at least I had fun and got to get out of my room for a while.
Today, I am just finishing up awards packets for medals and badges that my men have earned. I will finish that up tomorrow morning and then submit it for approval. Yes, these packets have a Purple Heart submission in them for our medic, driver and gunner that was injured in the Humvee rollover last week.
This is about it for now for here. Really slow week but we needed it so that we can get awards, leave and other paperwork done. We also went to the firing range last Thursday so that we can re-zero our weapons. Mine was off a bit but now is dead-on.
Well, that is about it from here. Talk to you soon!!!
CPT (Now Lieutenant Colonel )
Jason Carter
-Lieutenant Colonel, Jason Carter
Jason lives in Hazel Green, AL with his wife, Linda. He has served for over 21 years and had a total of 41 months active duty deployed after 9/11/01. He is a senior buyer in the electronic manufacturing industry and serves his country proudly in the Alabama National Guard. In his spare time he likes to metal detect, not only to stumble upon a few treasures, but to learn about the history of a place as well. “My greatest hope is that we all remember the sacrifices soldiers make to each other
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